Distributor securable to a vehicle for the purpose of spreading salt, sand or similar particulate material

ABSTRACT

A distributor for salt, sand, and other particulate material which is mountable on a vehicle, such as a truck, and which includes a hopper having a lower discharge opening. A frame which is securable to the vehicle supports the hopper for vertical shiftable movement relative to the frame and vehicle between upper and lower positions. An impeller is mounted below the discharge opening of the hopper and is powered by a motor which is housed within the hopper.

United States Patent [191 Walker DISTRIBUTOR SECURABLE TO A VEHICLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF SPREADING SALT, SAND OR SIMILAR PARTICULATE MATERIAL [75] Inventor: Jerry Wayne Walker, Wabash, Ind.

[73] Assignee: The Cyclone Seeder Company, Inc.,

Urbana, Ind.

[22] Filed: Feb. 12, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 331,617

[52] US. Cl 239/661, 239/683, 239/684 [51] Int. Cl A0lc 3/06, AOlc 7/00, AOlc 15/00 [58] Field of Search 239/650, 663, 684, 149, 239/172, 661, 683; 222/160 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 481,873 8/1892 Sardy 239/149 2,637,594 5/1953 Spedd1ng.... 239/149 [4 June 25, 1974 2,906,539 9/1959 Ritter 239/650 2,954,982 10/1960 Saiberlich 239/684 3,094,334 6/1963 Middleton et a1. 239/683 3,129,858 4/1964 Miller et a1. 222/160 3,191,944 6/1965 Watts 239/684 3,252,656 5/1966 Greenwood... 239/661 3,602,394 6/1969 McCune 239/683 Primary Examiner--Lloyd L. King Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Oltsch & Knoblock 5 7 ABSTRACT A distributor for salt, sand, and other particulate material which is mountable on a vehicle, such as a truck, and which includes a hopper having a lower discharge opening. A frame which is securable to the vehicle supports the hopper for vertical shiftable movement relative to the frame and vehicle between upper and lower positions. An impeller is mounted below the discharge opening of the hopper and is powered by a motor which is housed within the hopper.

3 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED JUN 2 51974 SHEET s of 5 DISTRIBUTOR SECURABLE TO A VEHICLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF SPREADING SALT, SAND OR SIMILAR PARTICULATE MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a distributor for particulate material and will have specific, but not limited, application to a spreader mountable on a vehicle, such as a truck, and utilized to distribute salt and sand.

Heretofore salt and sand spreaders have been of the type which are carried by a vehicle at a fixed height so that the area of coverage for the spreader is substantially constant. Thus, while such prior art spreaders can adequately cover open areas, such as vacant parking lots and streets, problems are presented when such spreaders must be used in areas where vehicles are parked. As a prior art spreader is brought into the proximity of parked vehicles, the salt or sand from the spreader due to the spreader height will contact the vehicles, causing concern to the vehicle owners and sometimes damage to the vehicles. The distributor of the subject invention is designed so as to be usable in a versatile manner both in open areas and in areas where vehicles and other encumbrances are present.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The distributor of this invention includes a hopper which is slidably supported on a frame mountable to a vehicle. The hopper is shiftable vertically between upper and lower positions and carries an impeller mounted below its lower discharge opening. The motor for rotating the impeller is mounted within the hopper so as to be protected from rain, slush, mud, dirt and other elementsThe impeller is designed so that when it is not rotating the material issuing from the hopper will bridge upon the impeller and be stopped. When the distributor is utilized in open areas it will be placed in an upper position so as to cover a maximum area with the sand, salt or particulate material carried within the hopper. When the distributor is utilized in the area of streets or parking lots having parked vehicles present, the distributor will be placed in a lower position with the impeller of the distributor being positioned at or below the bumper level of the vehicles so that the par ticulate material issuing from the hopper will be discharged under and not against the vehicles. The ability to lower the distributor is facilitated by having the motor located within the hopper and not exteriorly of the hopper and under the impeller as is the case in many prior art distributors.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a distributor for salt, sand and other particulate material which can be raised or lowered so as to vary the distance the impeller is spaced from the ground and thus regulate the area of coverage of the particulate material.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spreader which is securable to a vehicle such as a pickup truck and which includes an impeller rotated by a motor located within the spreader hopper.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spreader which is utilized to distribute salt, sand or similar particulate material and which has an impeller mounted below the hopper of the spreader and constructed so as to cause stop-flow bridging of the particulate material between the hopper and impeller during periods of non-rotation of the impeller.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a distributor for salt, sand and other particulate material which is of reliable and versatile operation.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent upon a reading of the inventions description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view of a pickup truck having the distributor of this invention mounted to the truck.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the distributor mounted to the pickup truck with portions of the distributor broken away for purposes of illustration.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the distributor mounted to the truck.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the distributor as mounted to the truck with portions broken away for illustration purposes.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the distributor shown mounted to the truck with the hopper of the distributor shown in a lower position as distinguished from an upper hopper position as shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The preferred embodiment illustrated is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise form disclosed. It is chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its ap plication and practical use to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention.

Distributor 10 includes a hopper 12 which is sup ported for vertical shiftable movement by a frame 14. Frame 14 includes parallel spaced, vertically oriented rails 16 which are connected at their lower ends by a lower transverse frame member 18 and which are connected at their upper ends by an upper transverse frame member 20. Upper transverse frame member 20 is connected to a cross member 22 which extends from one side wall 24 to the other side wall 24 of a pickup truck 26. Rails 16 are located just rearwardly of tailgate 28 of truck 26 and are secured in position by attaching lower transverse frame member 18 to bumper 30 of the truck and by attaching cross member 22 to truck side walls 24.

Hopper 12 includes spaced, vertically oriented guide parts 32. Guide parts 32 fit slidably between rails 16 of frame 14, as best shown in FIG. 8. A pair of spaced offset flanges 34 are secured to hopper l2 and are positioned so as to overlap frame rails 16, thus cooperating with guide parts 32 to form guides which are slidable over rails 16 and which allow hopper 12 to be raised and lowered relative to frame 14 and truck 26. A handactuated crank or winch 36 is mounted to upper transverse frame member 20 and is secured by cable 38 to a brace member 40 of hopper 12. At least one of the rails 16 of frame 14 has a plurality of vertically spaced holes 42 formed in it. Each guide part 32 of hopper 12 which is positioned next to a rail 16 having holes 42 formed therein has a hole 44 formed in it. Each hole 44 is brought into registry with holes 42 in rails 16 upon the vertical shiftable movement of hopper 12 between rails. A pin 46 is inserted through each hole 44 and a selected registering hole 42 to secure hopper 12 in a specific vertical position. To raise and lower hopper 12, pin 46 is removed and winch 36, which may include a ratchet and pawl actuator, is turned to move the hopper and realign each hole 44 with another selected hole 42 in a rail 16. Once the hopper has been repositioned and each hole 44 aligned with a selected hole 42, pin 46 is replaced.

An electric motor 48, which is suitably encased and sealed from the particulate material utilized in the distributor and which may be of a single speed, is located within hopper 12 preferably near its top. Motor 48 is supported by a frame part 50 which is secured to the side walls of hopper 12. An elongated drive shaft 52, which forms a part of motor 48, extends downwardly through bottom wall 54 of the hopper. Shaft 52 is journaled in bottom wall 54 by means of a suitable bushing 56. A discharge opening 58 for the particulate material is formed in hopper bottom wall 54. An impeller 60 is located under discharge opening 58 and is secured to the protruding end 62 of drive shaft 52 for rotation with the drive shaft upon activation of motor 48. A material agitator 64 is secured to drive shaft 52 adjacently above bottom wall 54 of the hopper so as to prevent bridging of the particulate material above discharge opening 58 within the hopper during rotation of the impeller. Motor 48 can be connected by suitable wiring (not shown) to the electrical power source for truck 26 or a suitable battery power source carried within the bed of the truck and can be turned on and off by a suitable switch.

Impeller 60 includes an arcuate or dish-shaped bottom wall 66 having an outer annular peripheral edge which extends beyond the peripheral edges of bottom wall 54 of the hopper. A plurality of vane-like flanges 68 are attached to or formed on the upper surface of impeller wall 66 for the purpose of deflecting the particulate material from the bottom wall in an outwardly radial fashion as the material falls through discharge opening 58 onto the rotating impeller. An inclined deflector plate 70 is secured to the side wall of hopper 12 at the outer edge of discharge opening 58 for the purpose of deflecting the particulate flow of material from the discharge opening toward the center of impeller 60. The curvature of bottom wall 66 of impeller 60 and the selected spacing of the impeller from discharge opening 58 allows the particulate material 71 to bridge between the discharge opening and impeller, as shown in FIG. 9, during the periods that the impeller is not rotating, thus serving to block the flow of the particulate material through the discharge opening without the utilization of a sliding door or a similar type closure. Deflector plate 70 also assists in the bridging of the material between the impeller and hopper discharge openmg.

A guard 72 for the impeller 60 is secured to hopper 12 and located under the impeller. Deflectors 74 extend outwardly from behind the impeller. Deflectors 74 serve to prevent the particulate material from being thrown forwardly under the truck by the impeller and to deflect a part of the material downwardly through the center opening 76 in guard 72 and under the impeller to supplement the area of coverage of the material.

A grate 78 is carried at the upper margin of hopper 12 and serves to screen out lumpy items of material as the material is poured into the hopper during loading of the distributor. A hinged cover 80 spans the top of hopper l2 and is secured in its closed position by a catch 82.

Impeller 60 can be located at a variety of selected distances from the ground or road surface 84 by the shifting of hopper 12 through the actuation of winch 36. In FIG. 1, hopper 12 is shown located in an upper position with impeller 60 being located a suitable distance from road surface 84 so as to cause a wide distribution of the particulate material; as indicated by arrows 86. In FIG. 9, hopper 12 is shown located in a lower position which positions the impeller below the bumpers of most vehicles so as to distribute the particulate material in a pattern below the chassis of the vehicles. In this manner, the area of distribution of the particulate material can be varied without varying the speed of the distributor impeller.

It is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details above given but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A distributor for salt, sand and other particulate matter, said distributor being mountable to a vehicle and comprising a covered hopper having a lower discharge opening, frame means securable to said vehicle for supporting said hopper, said frame means including vertically oriented guide parts, said hopper including guide means cooperating with said guide parts and shiftable thereover for guiding the movement of said hopper relative to said frame means between upper and lower positions with said frame means secured to said vehicle, an impeller carried by said hopper and positioned below said hopper discharge opening, motor means carried wholly within said hopper for rotating said impeller, means carried by said frame means for shifting said hopper between said upper and lower positions, and securement means for locating said hopper in a selected position at said upper and lower positions or therebetween.

2. The distributor of claim 1 wherein said frame means guide parts are rails, said guide means being shiftable longitudinally along said rails.

3. The distributor of claim 1 wherein said motor means includes a drive shaft extending through the bottom of said hopper, said impeller secured to said shaft for rotation therewith and including a concave bottom wall means having a peripheral edge radiallydisposed a greater distance from said shaft than the outer peripheral edge of said discharge opening is located from the shaft, said impeller bottom wall means being so spaced below said discharge opening to permit bridging of said particulate material between said wall means and discharge opening during periods of non-rotation of the impeller for the purpose of stopping the flow of material from said hopper. 

1. A distributor for salt, sand and other particulate matter, said distributor being mountable to a vehicle and comprising a covered hopper having a lower discharge opening, frame means securable to said vehicle for supporting said hopper, said frame means including vertically oriented guide parts, said hopper including guide means cooperating with said guide parts and shiftable thereover for guiding the movement of said hopper relative to said frame means between upper and lower positions with said frame means secured to said vehicle, an impeller carried by said hopper and positioned below said hopper discharge opening, motor means carried wholly within said hopper for rotating said impeller, means carried by said frame means for shifting said hopper between said upper and lower positions, and securement means for locating said hopper in a selected position at said upper and lower positions or therebetween.
 2. The distributor of claim 1 wherein said frame means guide parts are rails, said guide means being shiftable longitudinally along said rails.
 3. The distributor of claim 1 wherein said motor means includes a drive shaft extending through the bottom of said hopper, said impeller secured to said shaft for rotation therewith and including a concave bottom wall means having a peripheral edge radially disposed a greater distance from said shaft than the outer peripheral edge of said discharge opening is located from the shaft, said impeller bottom wall means being so spaced below said discharge opening to permit bridging of said particulate material between said wall means and discharge opening during periods of non-rotation of the impeller for the purpose of stopping the flow of material from said hopper. 